So it is day seven of the FOREVER road trip tour (in case you're just tuning in, it is my 3,700 mile road trip book tour for FOREVER, and the places are here) and my co pilot (Tessa Gratton) and I have just gotten done with the Canadian leg of our journey. It began in Toronto and headed through Oshawa and London, with insanely huge and wonderful crowds at all of them. So, there was a lot of the Canadian trip that was impressive to me (things like our hotel room having two bathrooms, Scholastic Canada being incredible, and Canadian fuel being more expensive than All The Things), but three things really stood out to me. First of all, they let me sign not only books, but walls:
That is the wall at Mabel's Fables. It was delightfully satisfying.
The second impressive thing is that they have strange road signs. Some of them are merely unusually regal.
Some, however, stood for things that Americans don't seem to encounter.
This sign means: TRUCKS WITH FAILED BRAKES AHEAD.
There were these signs everywhere. DANGER DUE TO OVERHEAD WIRES is what they say, but they didn't advise what I was supposed to do with this knowledge. Was this a recommendation to dodge or a warning to not fly my car in this area? Are many Canadians felled by high wires on the highway?
This sign helpfully pointed out where we could locate "overhead."
Do you see the pictogram on the far right? That means ALIEN ABDUCTION ZONE AHEAD.
DO NOT CROSS THE FILM STRIP.
QUILTING AREA AHEAD.
THIS SIGN IS NEW.
I . . . don't know.
Even the road cones were different in Canada. This cone represents how Tessa and I felt before we hit the traffic outside Toronto.
And this one represents how we felt after.
So, the final thing that impressed me about Canada?
They let me park on the sidewalk.
Best country ever.
Tomorrow? Onto Chicago for an event tomorrow evening.
